As you know, Brooke White and her family are friends of ours. Brooke has used the Tassi for years. Currently, Brooke is preparing for the American Idols Summer Tour along with the other top 10 finalists. Their first stop is here in Arizona on July 1st, and we have tickets for our whole family.

The other day Kaylene (Brooke’s mother) told me Brooke would like to give Tassies to the other female finalists and to Jason Castro (the one with the dreadlocks). Yesterday I sent a box full of Tassies for Brooke to hand out to the finalists and to the American Idol make-up people.

So this Summer, Tassi will be on tour throughout United States. I don’t expect to see Tassies on stage, but they’ll be backstage keeping the Idols’ hair outta there!

Tassi got another shining review. This time from Marie-Pierre of Marie-Pierre Professional Hair & Make-Up in Key West, Florida. Marie-Pierre was born in Antibes France and has been practicing the art of styling for 13 years and has extensive background in precision cutting, hair coloring, bridal hair design and professional make-up. She has studied hair styling at the Vidal Sassoon academy in Santa Monica, Calif. as well as with Martin Parson world famous long hair master. She has also studied with Debra Macki, celebrity make-up artist, and has completed her advanced professional techniques make-up course.

Take a look at what Marie-Pierre has to say about Tassi.

Tassi received a great review at lovetoknow.com. According to the reviewer, Jodie Michalak, “[Tassi] is one of the best kept beauty secrets I’ve discovered in a long time. . . Without a doubt, I am in love with this clever invention.” Check out Jodie’s full review.

If you’ve been following American Idol this year, you will recognize Brooke White, who was a top 5 finalist. We’ve known Brooke and her family for years. The Whites were our neighbors while Brooke was growing up here in Mesa, Arizona. They are some of our favorite people. Brooke and my daughter Katie are the same age and are good friends.

Brooke, her mother Kaylene and Brooke’s sister Katie have been wearing the Tassi for years. They helped me so much as I was developing and refining and even naming the Tassi. I think Brooke was about 12 years old when she started using the original hairwrap–it didn’t have a name then and looked very different. Brooke and her mother have been some of my biggest supporters and encouraged me for years to do something with “that hair thing.” These days the Whites live right across the street from us, so I still use Kaylene for feedback on my latest Tassi ideas, like colors, fabrics and marketing.

We were thrilled when Brooke got on American Idol. This whole season, we’ve watched and voted for her. Kaylene told me Brooke still uses her Tassi every day and has had a Tassi with her in Hollywood throughout the American Idol competition. Brooke has a hot pink Tassi right now and keeps it hanging on her bathroom doorknob. We have had so much fun cheering for Brooke the last few months and hearing some inside scoops from her parents.

By the way, Brooke is exactly the person you saw on the show. Sweet, sincere and very talented.

We love you Brooke!

Right: Brooke White, long time Tassi user and American Idol top 5 finalist

I went to New York City last month and made the rounds visiting magazine beauty editors. Hopefully, you will be seeing Tassi in a lot of magazines soon.

Paul went with me, and we got to see “Wicked” and “Hairspray” on Broadway. We had never seen Wicked and thought it was great with a lot of twists. We had seen the Hairspray movie, but enjoyed the play. George Wendt (Norm on Cheers) played the mother.

We also ate a lot of cheesecake. Every restaurant boasted they had the best cheesecake in New York. So we had to find out. While we were there, my daughter Katie called and told us she was watching the Food Network and had just seen a devil’s food cheesecake at Junior’s Restaurant in New York City that looked delicious. We were staying on Time’s Square. So we walked the two blocks to Junior’s on 46th Street and tried the devil’s food cheesecake. It was delicious and turned out to be my favorite.

Tassi is turning up in stores all over New York City (just look at number of stores in NYC listed on the “Retail Locations” page) and is selling great. We hope it’s true that if we can make it in New York, we can make it anywhere. We are in all of the Ricky’s NYC stores (over 20 stores) and in many other stores, salons and spas. We went to the Ricky’s on 39th Street and there was a large display with over 70 Tassies on one wall. Who would have thought . . .

Below Left: Karen Nathanson of Whats Hot! Inc. with me at Ricky’s NYC on 39th Street. Every store should have a display like this!

Right: Here I am in front of Ricky’s NYC on 39th Street in New York City.

When we went to the Cosmoprof tradeshow in Las Vegas last summer, we met some very nice people from Japan, whose company is called Nadja Perenne. They loved the Tassi and kept pressing us to let them take it to Japan even though we hadn’t even launched in the United States.

Left: Our friends at Nadja Perenne in Tokyo. Click on picture to enlarge it.

We worked with their U.S. representative, Elke Heitmeyer, and the Tassi hit the shelves in Japan in January of this year before we officially launched in the U.S. Tassi is now in a number of chain stores in Tokyo and throughout Japan, including Sony Plaza, Loft, Hands and HAC Drug.

I love it because they put up large Tassi displays and show our DVD, which I think helps so much. They even appeared on a popular television show with the Tassi. Sales have taken off. I understand the Japanese are very open to new and trendy products. And that’s what Tassi is!

Right: Tassi display in (Sony) Plaza store in Ebisu, a suburb of Tokyo.

It has been so fun for me to see pictures of Tassi in Japanese stores with Japanese labeling. We want to take Tassi to the whole world.

Many, many thanks to Elke and our friends at Nadja Perenne, especially Mr. Moriya. We love working with you!

Left: Back label of Tassi package in Japanese. This is so fun!

Right: Here we are with Elke at the ISSE show in Long Beach. Left to right — Paul (my husband), Hanna (my daughter), Chase (my son), Elke Heitmeyer, Danny (my son) and me.

I know I am supposed to write about Tassi on this blog, but I can’t resist showing you pictures of my grandson Carson’s first birthday. We have a family tradition of letting each child have his own cake on his first birthday. Carson was not shy. By the time he was done, he was covered in chocolate frosting and had eaten most of the cake.

Style Talk Forums on Styleforfree.com has announced a giveaway of one soft pink Tassi a day for 7 days starting April 30, 2008. There is still time to get in on it. Just follow this link. Also, read their five star reviews of the Tassi, which they call a “beauty must!”

We gave away some free Tassies on a blog called Tales from the Crib. It’s too late to get in on the give away. But it’s fun to read the review and the comments. I always get excited when women “get it.” And I like it even better when they say the Tassi is “brilliant.” Check it out.

Check out the great Tassi review at Beautifile.